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News Section Biological weapons and international humanitarian law
The ICRC considers any use of biological agents to cause illness, death or fear to be utterly repugnant and abhorrent acts. Such acts deserve universal condemnation, and are banned by the 1925 Geneva Protocol and the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. The Biological Weapons Convention, moreover, comprehensively bans development, manufacture, stockpiling and transfer of biological weapons. See also on this site: Related site: Harvard Sussex Programme on CBW armament and arms limitation.  Key document21-11-2006 Biological weapons: ICRC appeals to States, scientists and industry At the Sixth Review Conference of the Biological Weapons Convention (Geneva, 20.11 - 8.12.2006), the ICRC has called for renewed efforts by States, scientists and the biotechnology industry to ensure universal adoption and effective implementation of the treaty. (Humanitarian law\Weapons\Biological weapons) Official Statement 4-3-2003 Use of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons: current international law and policy statementsInformal information note to Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies about the ICRC position (Humanitarian law\Weapons) 31-1-2003 1972 Convention on the Prohibition of Bacteriological Weapons and their DestructionFact sheet describing the obligations of States regarding the national implementation of the norms contained in this particular instrument of international humanitarian law. (Humanitarian law\National implementation\Publications\Fact sheets) Fact Sheet Includes PDF Treaties and States party22-4-2008 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction, 10 April 1972Link to the IHL Treaty database (Humanitarian law\Weapons\Biological weapons) 22-4-2008 Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, Geneva, 17 June 1925Link to the IHL Treaty database (Humanitarian law\Weapons\Biological weapons) ICRC Publication26-9-2003 Biotechnology, weapons and humanityFollowing on from the launch of the ICRC's public appeal on Biotechnology, weapons and humanity in September 2002, this leaflet has been produced. It highlights some of the existing and emerging capabilities for use of scientific advances in the field of biotechnology for hostile purposes and the risks that they pose for humanity if not controlled. It also outlines measures that can be taken by governments, industry, scientists and other actors to minimise the threat of poisoning and deliberate spreading of disease. (Info resources\ICRC publications and films\Publications\Humanitarian law) ICRC Publication Includes PDF International Review of the Red Cross30-6-2007 Who will assist the victims of use of nuclear, radiological, biological or chemical weapons – and how?It is uncertain who will assist the victims of use of nuclear, radiological, biological or chemical weapons if an international response is required and how this assistance can be provided without undue risk to those providing it. The use of such weapons presents a variety of risks and the political and security implications are serious and complex. This article shows the difficulties inherent in assisting the victims of use of nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical weapons. (Info resources\International Review\2007 - No. 866) International Review of the Red Cross Includes PDF 30-9-2005 Neurobiology: A case study of the imminent militarization of biologyThe biological, medical (and legal) communities should face the near certainty that unless active steps are taken to prevent it, biology will become the next major military technology, and that neuroscience — and by implication much of the rest of modern biology — will
become highly vulnerable to use or abuse in entirely unintended, but clearly
foreseeable, ways. (Info resources\International Review\2005 - No. 859) International Review of the Red Cross Includes PDF Official Statement11-12-2006 Functional Perspective on the Biological Weapons Convention and
Chemical Weapons ConventionPresentation by the International Committee of the Red Cross, Special meeting on combating the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, their delivery systems, and related materials, Permanent Council of the Organization of American States Committee on hemispheric security, Washington, 11 December 2006 (Humanitarian law\National implementation\Topics\Weapons) Official Statement 9-10-2006 ICRC statement on weapons to the United NationsUnited Nations, General Assembly, 61st session, First Committee, item 90, 94 and 97 of the agenda, Statement by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), New York, 9 October 2006 (ICRC Activities\Humanitarian diplomacy\United Nations\61st General Assembly) Official Statement 16-11-2005 Weapons and International Humanitarian LawPresentation by Jean-Philippe Lavoyer, head of the legal division, ICRC, Council of Delegates, Seoul, 16 - 18 November 2005 (Humanitarian law\Weapons) Official Statement 10-6-2005 Preventing the use of biological and chemical weapons: 80 years onSpeech delivered by Jacques Forster, vice-president of the ICRC, during the International seminar on the Biological and Chemical Weapons Threat, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibiting asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases.
and bacteriological methods of warfare. (Humanitarian law\Weapons\Chemical weapons) Official Statement Press article24-11-2005 Hostile Use of the Life SciencesArticle by Meng-Kin Lim, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on 24 November. Meng-Kin Lim was a participant at an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) roundtable in September 2005, also entitled 'Hostile Use of the Life Sciences' (Focus\Biotechnology and weapons) Press article 20-7-2005 Science and Prohibited WeaponsThis article is published with the kind permission of Science Magazine, where it first appeared on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the 1925 gas Protocol. (Focus\Biotechnology and weapons) Press article  |
